Friday, February 01, 2008

Wesley Snipes was acquitted today on the felony charges of "tax evasion". He was however convicted of 3 misdemeanor charges of failing to file tax returns. The New York Times has the writeup here.

The whole idea of the income tax has always offended me. From the way that it picks and chooses or "targets" who has to pay and who doesn't (so much for equal protection under the law). To how invasive it is into the privacy of our citizens (you show me your tax return and I can tell you who you are). To the way that it's enforced (is there such a thing as a tax preparer industrial complex? Yes, there is, we spend as much with tax lawyers, H+R Block etc. in administering the income tax as we do in collecting it. You don't think that there's not a lobby for THAT special interest).

This country was FOUNDED on a tax rebellion. It was fashionable at one time to tar and feather the tax collectors. It is certainly true that the founding fathers never intended us to work 5 months out of the year for the government. I'm in the prime of my earning years and the only thing I see is red ink for all the promises that our government is making that it can't keep. And who are the people who are making money in this country? The people who work or have contracts with the government.

In a perverse way, I hope that we do have an economy that crashes. I hope that we have a depression and that we have inflation that runs up to 20 percent. I hope the government becomes insolvent and China decides to cash in its dollar holdings. It may be the only thing that knocks some sense into everyone and makes people realize that more government is NOT the solution. It's the problem. /rant (just kidding IRS, DHS, FBI, CIA, SEC, FEMA, and BATF)